The 31-year-old, who had taken a cocktail of anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and the class C drug diazepam, was found asleep on her sofa with a male friend as smoke filtered into the living room and the main bedroom where her 15-month-old son was sleeping.
Despite shouting loudly and shaking them, firefighters struggled to wake the pair, who had also failed to hear the smoke alarm that was activated by food burning on the hob in the kitchen. When the defendant, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the child, was eventually awoken, she showed no interest in her son, who had been taken out of the house by a neighbour and was later examined at the Accident and Emergency department at the General Hospital, the Royal Court heard.
The boy did not suffer any injuries and is now in the care of his paternal grandparents.
Yesterday, the woman, who has 43 previous convictions, including four for separate child neglect offences, was given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to exposing a child to the risk of harm.
Crown Advocate Sara O’Donnell, prosecuting, told the court that although the defendant had not tried to cause harm to the baby, she was ‘extremely intoxicated and completely incapable’ and showed ‘little or no concern for the child’s welfare’.
The advocate said that the woman was so intoxicated that she walked back into the house against police orders and that although doctors had previously prescribed her anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, she did not have a current prescription.
She added that when the baby was taken to Accident and Emergency, staff reported that his clothes were ‘very dirty’ and his nappy had not been changed for some time.
Advocate Pierre Landick, defending, said that his client had made a ‘bad decision’ on the night and that she was deeply remorseful.
He added that the woman had made a ‘poor’ decision in her choice of friends and that one of them, the man with her on the night, had given her the diazepam.
Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq said that the court accepted that she had a difficult background and that she was remorseful for her actions, but that the offence was aggravated by the fact she had committed child neglect on a number of occasions before.
‘This is not the first time that you have been guilty of causing this offence,’ he said. ‘The consequences of your actions could have been catastrophic. By taking a mixture of drugs you rendered yourself incapable of looking after him and keeping him safe.’
After delivering the sentence he added: ‘The suspension offers you the chance to show that you can take this opportunity that is afforded to you and the help that’s afforded to you to turn your life around.’
Mr Le Cocq was sitting with Jurats Geoffrey Fisher and Geoffrey Grime.
